UK goes a whole week without using coal-fired electricity

Enlarge / The cooling
towers of Willington Coal-Fired Power Station, first commissioned
in 1957, contains four 104MW generating units. Each unit, when on
full load, burns approximately 1,000 tons of coal per day, which
produces 200 tons of ash. Willington, Derbyshire, United Kingdom.
(credit: Andrew Aitchison / In pictures via Getty Images)

In 2015, the UK pledged to
remove coal from its grid by 2025. In a statement to the
Financial Times on Thursday, the National Grid’s director, Fintan
Slye, said he expected the grid to be able to not only hit that
target but to run with zero carbon emissions.

“As more and more renewables come on to our energy system,
coal-free runs like this are going to be a regular occurrence,” the
director said. “We believe that by 2025 we will be able to fully
operate Great Britain’s electricity system with zero carbon.”